The texts listed below are considered to be of literary merit and suitable for study at NCEA Level 3 and level 8 of the curriculum because they allow the students to respond critically:
Text Title
Text Author
Comment
The God of Small Things
Arundati Roy
Once Were Warriors
Alan Duff
Not Without my Daughter
Betty Mahmoudy
Mister Pip
Lloyd Jones
Teaching guide available
The Road
Cormack McCarthy
We used The Road for level 3 written text last year with two clsses success. The students found the style interesting and grappled with the characters. Many of them hadn't read anything post-apocalyptic so it was an eye-opener.i think, in some ways, they enjoyed studying what they percieved to be an 'adult book'. We are moving it to our year 12 extension programme this year as an experiment.
5 People You Meet In Heaven
Mitch Absolom
We used this successfully at Yr 12 - not enough for Yr13??
School Days
Tobias Wolfe
Angela's Ashes
Frank McCourt
Atonement
Ian McEwan
The Comfort Of Strangers
Ian McEwan
Enduring Love
Ian McEwan
Purple Hibiscus
Chimananda
My Fine Lady
Yolanda Joe
The New Girl
Emily Perkins
Experience of the three girls and their riends awaiting their exam results after year 13 in a stifling small town summer - (plenty of interesting male characters, too) beautifully written
The Bell Jar
Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath in the Bell Jar unless you are nervous about suicide issues. students i hvae used it with in the past thought it was the best approach! fabulous language. famously insightful
Kindred
Octavia Butler
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Attwood
The Driftwood Seekers
D & D Bradley
a really great challenging NZ text. I did it with extension year 13 and they achieved very well with it. Lots of symbolism strong themes and characters. Intersting shifting narrative viewpoint and use of flashback/flashforward that gradually becomes clear.
1984
George Orwell
The Knife of Never Letting Go
Patrick Ness
It's a gritty and unusual book, with plenty of scope for exploring racism, sexism, power, manipulation, and language.
You Against Me
You against me is the 2011 Tomorrow When the War Began. But better. The writing is exceptional. The content challenging without the need for censorship.
Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro
A Long Way Gone
Ishmael Beah
We a trying A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. We thought it might appeal to the boys. Then doing related texts on war, conflict and peace.
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